Board approves significant division placement proposal

November 17, 2014 by Jose Garcia, AZPreps365


The Arizona Interscholastic Association’s executive board adopted a well-received AIA proposal that will eliminate a division placement practice that was in place for the past 100 years in Arizona.

Enrollment was the only component that was used to determine division placement, but that rule is now history. On Monday, the board voted to add more practical factors that will hopefully help create a safer landscape for athletes and divisions that are more competitively balanced.

The number of free and reduced lunch students attending a school, prior success of a team and perhaps the number of players participating in a program are some of the factors, including enrollment, that the AIA will now consider using for division placement purposes.

“This is a huge victory for kids at all levels in all parts of the state,” said Chuck Schmidt, the AIA’s associate executive director.

In the past, schools with high enrollments were placed in the top and toughest divisions.

The belief was that those schools should be grouped together because they had larger talent pools. But that wasn’t the case, as the roster totals at some schools, particularly those in the inner cities, were small compared to schools in the suburbs.

The roster imbalance and safety concerns, especially in football, drove the discussion that led to Monday’s unanimous vote. It’s a discussion that started about a decade ago but finally picked up steam this year when the AIA threw out the idea of using football participation figures to assign teams to specific divisions.

“The intent was to stop the machine and take a hard look at everything and have a discussion,” Schmidt said.

Coaches and administrators were asked for their input on the participation concept, the number of players in a football program, but the idea was criticized.

Some believed that the participation numbers would be fudged so that a program could move in to a desired division. Administrators and coaches brought forth other division placement ideas that were well-received by the AIA.

During the division placement discussion, Mesa Westwood’s booster club members presented a division placement plan to the AIA that included factors that were already being looked at. But the booster club had those factors tested by a couple of individuals in the math field.

Westwood's booster club hired the mathematicians to look at the demographics and prior success of teams to prove to Westwood’s administrators that Westwood belonged in Division II instead of Division I. One of the factors the math experts looked at was free and reduce lunch.

After the Westwood administrators looked over the data and learned of some injuries on the football team during a final regular season game a couple of years ago, Westwood moved down to D-II. Westwood just finished a successful playoff season in D-II.

The AIA will now work with the same math experts Westwood worked with to help develop a formula that will assign a division for every school in the state. The formula will be used for all team sports.

Once the divisions are set, each high school will remain in their respective division for the next three school years. The AIA is using next year to align itself with the scheduling blocks of Arizona’s neighboring states to help Arizona’s border schools schedule out of state games.

After the 2015-16 school year, the AIA will then return to its regular two-year scheduling block. The only thing that might get tweaked after next year might be the schedules of some teams.

Since the AIA’s board approved the new division alignment proposal, a proposal to move up every private school is now off the table. Some private schools report how many free and reduced lunch students they have but some don’t.

Where private schools are placed if the free and reduce lunch factor is used will be an ongoing discussion, the AIA said. Free and reduced lunch might not even be factored in for private schools, Schmidt added.

The initial division and section placement of schools will now start in January. In February, schools will be allowed to appeal their division placement.  

And the schedules for next year should be out by the end of March or early April.

New division proposal

The proposal from the small school divisions to add another division to some sports was tabled for next month.  

The AIA will look at the venue opportunities and gather more financial information to see if the small schools’ request can be approved.

Transfer rule back on the table

The board wants the AIA to draft another transfer mile rule proposal for the legislative council to vote on.

The first proposal didn’t pass a couple of years ago, but the board wants to revisit the rule to see if it will pass during this school year. The transfer mile radius proposal will likely be different for rural and metro schools this time around, Schmidt said. But like the original proposal, athletes who transfer will have to sit one year if they transferred to a school that’s within the mile radius of the second proposal, if the proposal is approved.  

Highland’s golf program placed on probation

The board disqualified the Division I first place finisher at state and placed the golfer’s school, Highland’s boys program, on probation for a year.

Golfers were not allowed to play at the state venue, Aguila Golf Course, after Oct. 25, but the Highland golfer played there on Nov. 1. The second place finisher at state, Hamilton’s Jino Sohn, will now be recognized as the D-I 2014 champ. Basha also had a golfer play at Aguila on Nov. 1, but Basha disqualified that golfer before the state event.

Basha was placed on advisement instead of probation for its actions.

Gilbert Christian withdraws violation

Gilbert Christian’s boys basketball program withdrew a violation it self reported.

The AIA’s board requested more time to look at the eligibility of players who transferred to the school and to answer some questions Gilbert Christian had about the transfers.